Show Summary

In a world where too many new real estate investors want to sit behind a computer and make things happen, Franklin Cruz knows the truth. It’s about building relationships with real people. On today’s FlipNerd.com show, Franklin shares lessons on how to build rapport with buyers and sellers to achieve more success. Rapport is about asking the right questions, showing others you care, and solving problems for others. Check out this episode to learn more.

Highlights of this show

Meet Franklin Cruz, real estate investor, mentor and coach.

Learn as Franklin teaches how to ask the ‘right’ questions to gather information and help solve problems.

Join the discussion on the importance of building rapport as part of having a successful real estate investing business.

Resources and Links from this show:

Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

FlipNerd Show Transcript:

Mike: Welcome to the FlipNerd.com podcast. This is your host, Mike Hambright. And on this show, I introduce you to expert real estate investors, awesome entrepreneurs and super cool vendors that serve our industry. We publish new shows each week and have a hundreds of previous shows and tip videos available to you. All of which you can access by visiting us at FlipNerd.com or visiting us in the iTunes store.

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And now, let’s get started with today’s show.

Hey. It’s Mike Hambright of FlipNerd.com. Welcome back for another exciting VIP interview where I interview successful real estate investing experts and entrepreneurs in our industry to help you learn and grow. Today, I’m joined by Franklin Cruz. A lot of you may know him. He is a real estate investor that has purchased hundreds of houses. He’s a mentor and a coach at Clever Investor, motivational speaker. He’s writing a children’s book. He’s got a lot going on.

So Franklin teaches a lot of investors how to be successful. And today, we’re going to talk about some important things in your success which are, how to build rapport with buyers and sellers, how to ask the right questions to gather the information you need to be successful, that’s kind of kind of tied in with that rapport. And a few other things kind of that vein.

So before we get started with Franklin though, it’s going to be a great show. Franklin’s got a lot of good information to share. Before we get started though, let’s take a moment to recognize our featured sponsors.

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We’d also like to thank National Real Estate Insurance Group, the nation’s leading provider of insurance to the residential real estate investor market. From individual properties to large scale investors, National Real Estate Insurance Group is ready to serve you.

Please note, the views and opinions expressed by the individuals in this program do not necessarily reflect those of FlipNerd.com or any of its partners, advertisers or affiliates. Please consult professionals before making any investment or tax decisions as real estate investing can be risky.

Now, let’s start today’s show.

Hey Franklin. Welcome to the show, my friend.

Franklin: Hey buddy. How are you doing man?

Mike: Good. Good. So glad to have you here.

Franklin: Awesome.

Mike: It’s funny that I’ve done a couple hundred shows and every once in a while we always talk beforehand what we’re going to talk about today. We have to kind of come up with the topic because with guys like you, we could probably do 20 different shows and never repeat anything. But sometimes you hear, something I know you want to talk about building rapport and things like that. And that’s something that’s so fundamental to me and my real estate business, yet after 200 shows, we never even talked about that before. So it’s kind of funny, but I’m glad we are because this is a people business, a relationship business, right?

Franklin: Yeah. It is 100%, man. People forget that all the time and I tell people it’s . . . And I get it, man, there’s so much marketing . . . Well, first of all, Mike, thank you so much for allowing me to be on this show.

Mike: Yeah. Thanks for being here.

Franklin: All the way from Lakeland, Florida Pope County, and feel good about myself. But it’s funny because a lot of people forget, like, real estate is a people business. I know there is a lot of marketing out there and there’s a lot of cool sophistication for programs and softwares. And I know we’ve both have seen this in our industry that people say, “Hey, you could click one button and click another button and then, magically a buyer and seller will just meet and give you money.”

Mike: Right. Yeah.

Franklin: That’s it.

Mike: That doesn’t work, you’re saying?

Franklin: No. It doesn’t at all.

Mike: Yeah.

Franklin: No. And so I’m happy to be here and we could definitely talk more about that topic, but it’s, this is going to be amazing. It’s just something that people totally, totally forget and I think after having my acquisition team just covering thousands of calls and we recorded it, we got it dialed in to saying, okay. What works and what doesn’t work.

Mike: Yeah. That’s awesome. But hey, before you start talking about that, tell us . . . For those that they don’t know you or those who don’t know you well enough yet, tell us about your background and how you got in a real estate investing.

Franklin: Yeah. No problem at all. Well, first of all, my background is I have a military background. If you can’t tell as clean as cut as you could possibly get.

Mike: Are you saying I’m a little shaggy or what?

Franklin: You’re good. You’re good. You’re good. So, I did not starch this, this morning. But no, I spent seven years active duty in United States Army. I had an amazing army career. I have spent two years in Korea. I spent two and a half years as an army recruiter. Six months down range in operation Iraqi Freedom when the war started.

And then, from there I was a general’s aid at Central Command in Tampa, Florida until 2005. I started real estate investing in 2000. I was actually doing it part-time while still in the military, so I definitely understand why a lot of people say, “Hey, how do I balance this work and this?” And I was like, try to balance military and being a real estate investor.

Mike: Yeah. No kidding.

Franklin: And so right after in 2003, after I came back from the war, I was like, yeah, this is definitely going to be a long war and I need to make a decision. And my decision was, look, if I can make at least 150,000 worth of cash. I’ll get out. My ETS day, I just reenlisted a year before, but my ETA state is going to come in 2005. If I can make 150 grand cash, I’ll get out of military. And I worked really, really hard and I flipped a whole bunch of houses. I did rehabs. I did everything you could possibly think of. Creating notes, selling notes, everything.

Mike: While in the army?

Franklin: While still in military and while being a general’s aid, which if you . . . A general aid’s, their schedule is crazy. It’s basically you’re an aid to basically a politician. They equivalent to senators.

Mike: Right.

Franklin: That’s what we’re equivalent to. So we met, we would meet with presidents and everything else of different countries, even in United States. And it was an amazing time for me. It’s just the funny part is my time was crazy. Up at 3 a.m., going to bed at crazy hours and still doing a real estate in between.

Mike: Yes.

Franklin: One thing I found was out was that when I hit that goal, I was like, all right. Now, I’m getting out. And in 2005, I created a company called Bentley Private Fund, that we still have till today and its 10 years later, I’m still doing a real estate, man. I’ve done basically every single type of transaction you could possibly think of.

Mike: Yeah.

Franklin: From wholesaling, from rehabbing, creating notes, selling notes. I mean, you name it I have screwed up at it and I’ve made a lot of money at it as well.

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. This is a little bit off topic, but maybe, you could take a minute because this is something that comes up all the time in real estate investing, people that want a transition from a job. They want to stop working in corporate America, working for the man, or whatever and get some of the freedoms that they think exists in real estate investing, which, obviously we know that they do if you do it right and becoming self-sufficient. But a lot of people let their job get in the way. And you were obviously able to transition through that with a very unusual job that if there was ever an excuse to have it, sounds like you could have had it . . .

Franklin: Yeah.

Mike: . . . But you didn’t. And so, maybe, just share a minute or two on what it takes to kind of have that vision to say, in a year or two or whatever it is, I’m going to transition and here’s how I’m going to do it.

Franklin: Yeah. No problem. I appreciate that, Mike. So definitely, what you’re saying is showing them exactly how I transitioned and what to do to get their like anybody . . .

Mike: Or maybe just kind of talk about how others should consider a transition because a lot of times people they get a safe or insecure in their job, which isn’t so safe and secure, maybe.

Franklin: Yeah.

Mike: And they use that as an excuse as how they can’t get started.

Franklin: Yeah. So great question. So what I would say is this, when it comes down to it, a lot of people actually think that I actually just got out of the military and had no plan. All right. It’s actually the complete opposite. I’ve met a lot of students that said, “I’m going to quit my job and I’m out” or “I can’t wait to just quit” or “I’m quitting next week and just do real estate 100% full-time.”

And then I say, well, that’s definitely probably the dumbest thing I’ve heard. Period. Because what happens is, the definition of an entrepreneur is to make enough money to pay for your own mistakes. And that’s the definition of entrepreneur if you want to know it. And I’ve had plenty mistakes and I paid for it. But what I did is first you need . . . first you have to comprehend that time . . . you need to be a time master. Okay. Because nobody else cares about time, your time more than you.

Mike: Right.

Franklin: Right. And to me, it’s all about effectiveness. I’ll be upfront and this is not bragging. I don’t want to come across that way. I’m very humble. You don’t know this, Mike, but I’m actually adopted. At 10 years old my mother passed, and so I come from very, very, very humble beginnings. I actually keep my mother’s food stamp cards still in my wallet. And so this year or last year has been extremely well for me, financially and ever since I’ve started on real estate, I’ve always made six figures. The last couple years, it’s been very, very good.

And so what was the difference? What was the difference between, like, when I was in the military, transitioning out and everything else is. I started understanding what every minute, every minute is valued at. I’m at $2.88 a minute. That’s how much my time is worth. So every minute, that clock’s over, is $2.88, $187 an hour. Okay. When I started fact figuring out that in, now, you could reverse engineer this, right? For somebody who’s working at a regular job. And says, “Well, I want to start learning the business.” That’s awesome. “Well, Franklin, I don’t have the time.” Well, you have the same 24 hours that everybody else has.

Mike: Right.

Franklin: The most common . . . I’m not sure if you know this or not, but what do you think is actually the most popular day? What do you think is the most popular day is?

Mike: Day of the week?

Franklin: Yeah. What day is that? Yeah.

Mike: Saturday?

Franklin: No. Someday.

Mike: Yeah. You got me, man.

Franklin: Someday is what people always say when they’re working. That someday they want to do something, right? Or I don’t have enough time, right? But you don’t create the time.

So I got is even though I’m being very successful and I know even our founder of Clever Investor, which a very good friend of mine, Cody Sperber. I talk to him every morning. I wake up every morning at 4:00 in the morning and he’s three hours behind me and I call him every morning at 4:30 in the morning. Every morning we talk. Every morning. And so that’s what a high performer does.

So instead of . . . it’s almost like, look, I want to be a real estate investor. I don’t have the time. Okay now, create the time. When I was in the military, I used to take the same sack notepad that you see right here. This not the exact same one. It’s not 10 years old. But what I do is when I had time, like I knew our lunch break was coming up at a specific time, then I would do is, I would call back all the sellers, that left me voice message. I will write down all their phone numbers. And so when I had a break, I will call everybody back. Another thing is what I started finding out is if I started eating lunch with all my friends, it took away time of effectiveness of making calls to do deals.

Mike: Right.

Franklin: So what I did is I started doing my own lunch. Go to the corner of the picnic area and then I would start at Central Command and I will start making calls. And then I would schedule the calls when I thought I would be leaving the military base. Now, another thing is keeping your word and keeping your integrity. So then what I would do is I’ll call everybody back and schedule timeframes to view houses, put deals on their contract or . . . When I first started, virtual wasn’t really that big of a deal yet, like it is now. It seems like so long ago. I really feel [inaudible 00:13:01] right now.

But before we couldn’t sign contracts on our phone. Before we didn’t have that ghost sign. Before we didn’t have all that stuff. We had to physically go and give somebody their contracts signed here.

Mike: Right.

Franklin: Right? And so I would just schedule everything out. And then what I did is I said “Look, I’m not getting out of the military until I have X amount of dollars in the bank as a cushion. I have a family. I can’t put them at risk.

Mike: Right. Right.

Franklin: And so when I hit that, then I went. And I have communication with my wife, look, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursday, you’re not going to see me. Just want to be straight up with you. But I promise you on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I’m 100% present. I’m with you.

Mike: That’s great.

Franklin: You’re going to have the . . . and if you have that job, you got to have to have that kind of conversation because at the end of the day, how bad do you want it?

Mike: That’s right.

Franklin: And if you want it bad enough, there’s a great motivational speaker, I believe his name is it Thomas something . . . I forget his name. They call him “The Hip-hop” motivational artist. And he says, “How bad do you want it? Do you want it bad enough that you can’t sleep, that you can’t breathe, then you just got to do it.

Mike: Yeah.

Franklin: And for me, it’s like, you know what? When my mom passed away the last book she gave me was “Think and Grow Rich.” And it’s like she passed away wanting to be an entrepreneur, period. She had a dream. And she got . . . Her life got cut off short. She passed away at 33 years old.

Mike: Wow.

Franklin: I’m 35. And I was just like, who am I? I’m going to make it. Hell or high-water, and it’s going to take something.

Mike: That’s awesome.

Franklin: And that’s where you got to look at is like, look at what you want to create and just make the time, period.

Mike: Absolutely.

Franklin: Well, and stop with the excuses. Excuses and reasons are BS. That don’t mean anything to me.

Mike: Yep.

Franklin: Like when people start giving me excuses and reasons, I’m like, okay, that’s great. And what are you going to create?

Mike: Right. Absolutely. Awesome, man. Thank you for sharing that.

Franklin: No problem at all. I want to come preaching, so I apologize with that.

Mike: Yeah. No. It’s good. I think that’s what a lot of people . . . they know it, but clearly unless you take massive action, unless you take control of your life and your destiny, nobody else is going to do it for you.

Franklin: Yeah.

Mike: Awesome, man. Well, let’s talk about rapport. Let’s talk about the importance of building rapport, building relationships with buyers and sellers.

Franklin: Yeah. Yeah. No problem at all. So rapport to me, that’s the biggest thing in real estate that I believe a lot of people are missing. And I think our students are having so many successes because we have it down to a science. We have it down to, I could tell you the minute that rapport should shift in a conversation. Okay.

And what I mean by that is, when you first start at any kind of conversation, are you asking open-ended questions or close-ended questions? And what I mean by that is, like, when a seller calls you, 9 times out of 10, let’s say you’re doing a marketing campaign. Right? So you have bandit signs out. Or you do a postcard campaign, or you do TV ads. I’ve done all. I’ve done everything you could possibly think of. Google Ads or whatever, right?

So let’s say you do a postcard campaign and on your postcard it says, “We buy houses and we pay top dollar.” Obviously it’s just a lead magnet because you’re trying to get them to call you and then you can negotiate the price, right? Makes sense? Okay. So once that happens is, 9 times out of 10, they’re going to say this, “So I got your postcard. What are you going to offer me?” That’s what they’re going to say.

Mike: Right.

Franklin: So well, now, what are you going to say? So you could say, well, sir/ma’am, or they may come back and say, “Well, you have the address. You sent me your cards. Tell me how much you’re going to offer.”

Mike: Yeah. You just sent one card though, right?

Franklin: Yeah. You still want [inaudible 00:16:40] Yeah.

Mike: No. That’s what they say. “Well, you sent a letter to me, so you must know who I am.”

Franklin: Exactly. Exactly. And I’m like, okay. And what I did is we tracked . . . It took about a year. We tracked like, I think it was a little bit over 2000 calls because everything’s recorded. We use Better Voice and Ring Central and you could use any system to record your calls, right? So if you have a staff, that’s what we use. Even if you’re a solopreneur, you could use the same thing. I will highly recommend it. Just get a recording system. You can listen to the calls when you’re on the phone with the seller.

So we started to listening to them and what we found is, through a series of questions, you could build a rapport and time it. Like actually start tracking your success ratios. So what I found is building rapport. Let me go back to open-ended question, close-ended question. It’s as simple as, Mike, you’re . . . let’s role play a little bit. How about that?

Mike: Sure. I’m good.

Franklin: Let’s do something you probably have never done on this show before.

Mike: I haven’t, but let’s do it. Let’s do it.

Franklin: Let’s put our sense to role play. We have no idea what we’re going to talk about at all.

Mike: No.

Franklin: Because I’m limited on time. And, Mike, you’re very busy man, so we’re going to balls to the wall on this.

Mike: All right.

Franklin: All right. Perfect. So, Mike, you are the seller. Okay. You’re the seller. You got the postcard. I am the investor. Okay.

Mike: Yep.

Franklin: All right. So you’re ready?

Mike: Let’s do it.

Franklin: Actually you’re calling me.

Mike: I’m calling you.

Franklin: So go ahead.

Mike: Okay. Hi there. I got a letter in the mail that says you want to buy my house and just wanted to see what your offer is.

Franklin: Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you. First of all, I appreciate you calling. What was your name again? I’m sorry.

Mike: It’s Mike.

Franklin: Mike. Mike. Perfect. Perfect. Mike. So, Mike, do you mind if you could tell me real quick, where are you calling from?

Franklin: So I apologize. I’m definitely, I’m not knocking at your door. I apologize in advance.

Mike: Okay.

Franklin: So perfect. So Dallas. And so do you mind, Mike, if you could tell me, because we get a lot of phone calls coming in. So do you mind if you could tell me what was the address of that property?

Mike: It’s 123 Main Street.

Franklin: 123 Main Street. I apologize. Okay. 123 Main Street. Perfect. Got it. So, Mike, if you don’t mind . . . Okay. So let me ask you a question, Mike. So how many bedrooms is this property again?

Mike: It is three bedrooms.

Franklin: Three bedrooms and how many baths?

Mike: Two baths.

Franklin: Two baths, perfect. How many . . . What’s the square footage of the property? Do you know?

Mike: Well, I’m not really interested in selling. I wasn’t planning to sell it, but I got your letter and I thought well, I will just check and see how much you might offer me.

Franklin: Yeah. Got it. Got it. I appreciate it. Okay.

Mike: Everything’s for sale, right?

Franklin: Everything is for sale. Exactly. Okay.

Mike: Yeah.

Franklin: Well, perfect. Well, Mike, let me ask you a question now. So you’re telling me you have no idea of what you want to sell the property for, is that what you’re saying?

Mike: Well, I think other houses in my neighborhood have been going for around $200,000 and I’d be willing to sell it for it that.

Franklin: Okay. Perfect. Now, real quick. Side note. Now, I’m acting like I’m not on this call. Right there when Mike, who is the seller, automatically start it. Before if he didn’t want to tell me a price. Now, he’s actually giving me a range. Okay. So this is of something that you want to listen for. Somebody’s giving you range, now, they’re giving you a breakthrough. The breakthrough is now they’re saying something, on a price-wise. So now, I have a range. Okay. Now, I’m back in the call. Perfect. All right. So, Mike, first of all, okay. So you’re saying about the $200,000 range, is that about right?

Mike: Yeah. I know this house done the street sold for that and I’d be willing to consider selling my house for that if I could get that same price.

Franklin: Okay. Perfect. Perfect. So you’re saying. So what was the price specifically? I didn’t get that. I’m sorry.

Mike: I think it was $200,000.

Franklin: Okay, 200. Got it. Okay. Perfect. So let me ask you, you know Mike, I don’t know. If you’re a general contractor, right? And I know you’re sponsored by Home Depot. So if you’re a general contractor, what kind of repairs do you think is needed for the property?

Mike: It doesn’t really need much. There’s probably some new carpet in couple of the rooms and maybe some fresh paint, but it’s in pretty good condition. I’ve lived here for a long time and it’s worked well for me.

Franklin: Okay. Perfect. Perfect. And then, how long have you lived in the property?

Mike: About 15 years.

Franklin: Wow. So since you were 17 years old? Is that what you’re saying?

Mike: I’m older than you think I am, Franklin.

Franklin: Okay. All right. Shift over here now. Shifting is, now, I’m building rapport. I got him laughing. Now, I’m listening for . . . And I know he’s not 17 years old, but the thing is you want to have some . . . if you have them laugh, they’re in.

Mike: Yeah.

Franklin: That’s it. You could basically screw up everything, but you have them laughing. Now, they’re feeling more comfortable. And I’m going quickly on this phone and I’ll tell you the specific timeframe. But now, that’s the key. Okay. Now, I’m shifting back. All right. Perfect. All right. So, Mike, perfect. So I get that you’re, I get that you’re not 32 years old. All right. Perfect. And so you’re saying that just a bit of carpet, little bit of paint. Is that what you’re saying?

Mike: Yeah. I don’t . . . It’s in pretty good condition.

Franklin: All right. Perfect. Perfect. So, Mike, let me ask you, what would be the lowest price that you will take for your property?

Mike: Well, like I said, that $200,000 that the house down street sold for, I would be willing to sell it for that if I could get the same price.

Franklin: Okay. Perfect. And Mike, I don’t want to really dig in to your personal business, but I just had a question because there may be a secondary way to purchase your property. Do you have any mortgage on the property?

Mike: Nope.

Franklin: So you own it free and clear?

Mike: Yeah. It’s paid off.

Franklin: So it’s pay off. Got it. All right. Side note. If you know anything about the subject to, this is like ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I think I hit the lottery. All right. That’s more advanced individual. So for a lot of people that are probably listening, so our newbies, which is nothing wrong with that. And some advanced, the advanced know what I’m talking about. The newbies don’t touch subject to at all.

Mike: No. Yeah.

Franklin: Don’t even go that route. Okay. Because it’s a little more complicated, but all I can say is get a great mentor. You’ll be fine on that standpoint. But don’t touch this, if you don’t know what you’re doing. All right. Shift back.

Mike: Even some veterans, I’m not a big fan of subject to as they’re just . . . I don’t like them, but we’ll talk about that.

Franklin: Yes.

Mike: So great. And just a side note before you go back here, Franklin and I know and I’m trying to honor your time. I know you got only a little time left, so but yeah, we’ll keep role playing if you want or you can kind of . . .

Franklin: Yeah. What I’ll do is you’re at house. I’ll slow it down right now and let me cut this off. Okay. Perfect. So the whole premise of this, the role playing . . . And if you don’t mind well, we will end it right here. Even though, it is just kind of midway. I timed it. We’re about almost eight minutes into the role play. So I have . . . The sweet spot is between 14 and 17 minutes. Okay. That’s really where you want to be. Okay.

So consider if you’re below 14 minutes, you didn’t build enough rapport at all. Okay. You didn’t build enough rapport that you could call the guy back and try to start establishing a price. If you’re at 17 minutes or if you’re above 17 minutes, consider now you’re just entertaining yourself. Like now, you’re just talking too much. Okay. This is the first call, really just try to stick to the point and get to it.

I could’ve started digging more into it. I would’ve said “Mike, do I hear some dogs in the background?” And then we can talk about dogs or “Mike, you sound like a military guy.” And then you go into that because you’re trying to establish rapport so you could go back to your set of questions about the property.

Mike: Right.

Franklin: You know, it’s just like anything else. It’s kind of like dating. This is not dating advice. I’m happily married, just FYI, but it’s like when I was an army recruiter, it was my time as really ironing this out because I wasn’t married. But it’s just like if you go to, if you go up to a woman, you’re not going to go up to and saying, “Hey, how are you doing? My name is Franklin Cruz. Hey. Do you want to come back to my house and check out how bouncy my bed is?” It’s not going to work. You don’t have any rapport.

Mike: Right.

Franklin: You don’t have anything. It takes time. Right? It takes getting to know the person, everything else and then they might go to church with you, right? You have no idea.

Mike: Yeah. And naturally the sellers are pretty . . . they’re trying to keep you at arm’s length because they’re guarded. It’s almost a negotiation tactic. You’re like ” Well, I’m not really even interested in this, but I just thought I’d try find out more,” right?

Franklin: Yeah.

Mike: It’s a matter of kind of building that relationship to get into a comfort zone where they’re willing to start talking more about . . .

Franklin: Yeah. And a great tool . . . And one thing I have to admit is called the “Takeaway tool” And anybody could write this down if they’re listening, it’s called the takeaway. And the takeaway is we have a lot of sellers and I just dealt with this the other day, we had a seller that says “I can rehab it myself and I could do this.” How many times have you heard that? Right?

Mike: Yeah.

Franklin: “I’ll just do it myself.” This is what I say, “I think that’s a great idea, Mike. I think you should rehab it.” And then silence. See, on all of [inaudible 00:26:04] we see 80% listen, 20% ask more questions. Because it’s not about you talking. It’s like dating. You would need to ask a woman something and allow her to talk. If you’re talking too much, trust me. She’s not interested.

Mike: Right.

Franklin: Listen. Be a powerful listener. So the takeaway is like, hey, I think that’s a great idea.

Mike: Yeah.

Franklin: Honestly Mike I really think you need to go that route. Because when I’m seeing our numbers, I just looked it up on our system and our numbers they’re a little below $150,000. And if you could get $250,000, Mike, for it, man, I really think that’s the route you should go,

Mike: Right.

Franklin: Right there. Instantly and, Mike, if you’re really the seller, right there you’re like, wow. This guy actually cares. What was going through your head when I just said that, I apologize.

Mike: Yeah. I know sometimes you will hear somebody say, “Well, I might be willing to accept a little bit less than that,” and then they kind of send you a message that okay. Maybe there’s a little more motivation here than what he led me to believe the first time, right?

Franklin: Exactly.

Mike: It’s a negotiation tactic. They’re kind starting high and they might be willing to come down. Sometimes, they’re not willing to come down. But you won’t know until you kind of build that relationship up. I get it.

Franklin: Yeah. And probably one huge tip . . . And I know you want to talk about tips, I’m not sure if this is the segment, but I will bring it up. Do you mind?

Mike: No. We will another one with you too my friend.

Franklin: Okay. Perfect. Here’s another amazing tip that I want people to really get. And I hear this all the time. The biggest thing is like, “Franklin, what if they say no. What if they’re not negotiating?” Consider, are you committed? And I’m looking at you right now on the screen, right? And not just Mike. I know whoever’s looking at this.

Consider this. Are you committed to being a real estate investor? A successful, high performing multimillion dollar real estate investor or are you attached? Now, what I mean by this is this. If you’re committed, being committed means you’re not attached, that this one person is the person that’s going to be the deal. Committed means look, I might have to put it on my calendar and I’m going to put follow-up in two weeks, right? This may not be the deal, because I’m not attached. I’m committed that I’m going to be successful.

Quit my job. I’m going to be a multimillionaire. I’m already a real estate investor. Now, I’m going to produce more income in my business or I’m going to be like Mr. Mike over here and he’s a real estate investor. He’s somebody who’s actually impacting the world through his show and everything else. And that’s got actually could . . . See, he’s committed to being take FlipNerd throughout the entire world and make it a massive success because it’s already successful. He’s committed. He is not attached that it needs to happen tomorrow.

Mike: Yep.

Franklin: Okay. And that this interview is going to be the interview that puts him on the map, or a Donald Trump interview.

Mike: Well, if it wasn’t you, Franklin, I would say that’s probably not true. But I think it might be, my friend.

Franklin: I appreciate it. It’s just like that’s what . . . If anybody is listening, if you could get one thing out of this call or this video or just the interview in itself is, are you committed or are you attached? Choose. And that’s it. If you choose committed, I promise you. I promise, promise, promise. Like this is like sign it, tattoo it on your forehead, whatever you got to do. You will be successful, but you’ve got to be committed.

Mike: Awesome.

Franklin: I drop the mic. I’m done.

Mike: Yeah. He’s out. Awesome, man. Well, hey, real fast, if folks want to learn more about you, where do they go?

Franklin: Yeah. It’s simple. One, you can find me on social media, Franklin Cruz. I’m actually the only Franklin Cruz in the world. C-R-U-Z. Or you could go to my website FranklinCruz.com or you could go to our amazing website at Clever, which is CleverInvestor.com, I believe /franklincruz, [inaudible 00:29:57] or if you find Cody Sperber on social media just chime in. We’re building an amazing community at Clever Investor that it’s all about changing lives, man. It’s just transformation through real estate investing.

So if you want to find me, find me on social media, say “What’s up.” Say if you heard this interview “Hey man. I heard the interview.” And tag my wife so she can know this was amazing, which is Bridgette.

Mike: Awesome, man. Hey, thanks so much for your time and thanks for sharing your insights today. I definitely appreciate, it was good stuff for sure.

Franklin: Thank you, Mike. I appreciate my interview on this show.

Mike: Thanks, buddy. We’ll talk to you soon.

Thanks for joining us for today’s FlipNerd.com podcast. To watch or listen to more great shows, please visit FlipNerd.com or visit us in the iTunes store. To access the most robust social platform in existence for real estate investors where you can find off-market wholesale deals, great vendors, literally in your market and to socialize with other like-minded individuals, please visit the one, the only FlipNerd.com.

If you’re not yet a member, you can set up a free account in about 30 seconds. It’s pretty much the coolest site that’s ever existed in the real estate investing industry. So get on over to FlipNerd.com.

Thanks for joining us for today’s FlipNerd.com podcast. To watch or listen to more great shows, please visit FlipNerd.com or visit us in the iTunes store. To access the most robust social platform in existence for real estate investors where you can find off-market wholesale deals, great vendors, literally in your market and to socialize with other like-minded individuals, please visit the one, the only FlipNerd.com.

If you’re not yet a member, you can set up a free account in about 30 seconds. It’s pretty much the coolest site that’s ever existed in the real estate investing industry. So get on over to FlipNerd.com.